Ribbing Redo

I recently finished a sweater that had been in my knitting bag for 5 years. Whew, well it is only fitting that I frogged the ribbing around the bottom and reknit it. Good news is it only took me a day, now it was most of the day, and now I love it. The first ribbing was a k1, p1 and it was wavy and not tight enough. I was going to frog it and reknit in a tighter gauge (smaller needle size) but after I got it ripped back I thought, “what the heck!, I’m going to do a folded hem”, which I’ve never knitted.

This is the after pic, notice the hem is flat! Yay!

You can see the k1 p1 ribbing on the bottom was curling up. I had cast off with a knitted cast off. So I had to

Cut part of the very edge off to unravel it.
Then I reknit it in stockinette stitch with one purl row all around to make it fold over on itself and then tacked it down! Yay! Smooth, nice hem now.

Type of ribbing and hems
Ribbing
I used to think all ribbing was created equal! Not so! Ribbing in knitting is a combo of knit and purl stitches. Usually k1p1, k2p2, k3p3. Any of these would do the job, NO!, Some are more stretchy and better suited to pull in a cuff or bottom of a sweater. I almost always use k1p1, on a needle 2 sizes smaller than the main needle size. I’m a loose knitter and this gives me some stretch or a tighter gauge on the cuffs. Sometimes I don’t want as much of a size difference in the bottom of my sweater and I’ll usually do a k1pl on a needle one size smaller. (I did the above sweater originally on the same size needle and the result was a frogging after I was finished and wore it, not happy with floppy, loose ribbing) Also take into account the type of yarn that you are using. Wool = stretchy, cotton = not stretchy. As with all knitting projects, it saves time and heart ache to do a swatch with the ribbing you are thinking about adding. The swatch can be measured and you can see and feel how your ribbing is going to behave with the yarn you are using.
The other types of ribbing k2p2 is also fairly stretchy but not as much as the k1p1. I’ll link an article from The Spruce that explains why that is below. (Great article) It will help you decide what ribbing to use on all of your projects!
If you need a super stretchy and firm ribbing, you can knit the twisted rib, See this KnitPicks post (link) for more info on that, super easy, (knit through the back loops)
See The Spruce article on ribbing (excellent!!) (link here)
Folded Hems
Folded hems are easy and best suited for a area that you want to lay flat. It is simiply a stockinette stitch interrupted by one row of purl and then return to the stockinette stitch for about an inch and a half or so. This naturally folds over due to the purl bump, and then you just have to tack it down. Sweet!
For a post about folded hems see MsCleaver. (link here), Thanks Ms Cleaver!!
Rolled Hems
Super easy and simple, just keep knitting in stockingnette stitch and then bind off. This is a favorite for hats! Remember that this hem will roll up, and you will loose some length due to this. So whether you are making this on a cuff on bottom of a sweater, allow for a inch or two more to make sure it is not too short.
See this post from CreativeMissy for a free hat pattern with a rolled brim (Link here)
Enjoy your knitting!
May your needles fly as fast as Dragonflies!